The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex

Making and release

Corrected proofs were sent to publisher John Murray on 15 January 1871, and the work was published on 24 February 1871 as two 450-page volumes.^[3] The first issue of 2,500 copies was published on February 24, and a second issue of 2,000 copies appeared in March.^[2] Two further issues of the two-volume English edition appeared in April and December 1871, the seventh and eighth thousands.^[2] The second edition of 1874, the tenth thousand, was in one volume in three parts instead of two.^[2]

Darwin wrote in the preface to the second edition of "the fiery ordeal through which this book has passed".^[2] The Limited Editions Club of New York issued a quarto in 1971 that omitted the parts on sexual selection.^[2] To prevent readers from drawing damaging conclusions, Darwin had his daughter Henrietta edit the chapters he sent her, and he also sought input from his wife Emma.^[3] Numerous illustrations in the book were created by the zoological illustrator T. W. Wood.^[3]

A reprint was demanded within three weeks of the book's release, and by the end of March 1871 the total number of copies printed had reached 4,500.^[4]

What the cited sources add

Darwin Online notes that the last chapter ends with a famous peroration about man's lowly origin, with wording that differs slightly in the first edition from the usual quote.^[2] The same source notes that Darwin's prediction about "civilised races" exterminating "savage races" is frequently quote-mined.^[5] Darwin Online records that both issues of the first edition contained sixteen pages of inserted advertisements for Murray's works.^[2]